Evan Cooper has played hockey since forever and is currently the goalie for the Northern Valley Regional High School ice hockey team. Evan’s other interests include snowboarding, and before he got into cycling, he was actually “planning” on becoming a ski bum after college! He has a great love for music, even the older stuff from the 60s – which his parents love since they don’t have to worry about horrid music being blasted from his room!
Evan became involved with cycling through his father, who was an avid rider and had completed a fair amount of charity bikes rides… After doing these with him for a number of years, Evan decided to start racing and soon thereafter hooked up with Craig Cook of the CRCA Junior Developmental Team, and since then the sport has taken on an entirely different meaning for him…
Evan loves the juxtaposition the sport showcases: “You can go out and train solo, race for yourself, or you can race for a team – cycling, after all, is a team sport… No matter what you get out of it or what you put in, whether you win solo or if your teammate wins, they are both equally satisfying. Where else can you find that?”
Evan Cooper is hoping to have a breakout season in 2008, focusing on the National Championships in July. He plans to go to Dartmouth College, where he wants to continue racing his bicycle. Evan’s goal is to race at the highest possible level that his legs will take him.
Height: 5’10”
December Weight: 144 lbs.
Race Weight: 136 lbs.
Birthdate, Location: March 7, 1990 – Closter, NJ
Childhood Heroes: “Martin Brodeur, Mick Jagger, Fabian Cancellara.”
Hobbies and Interests: “Snowboarding, hockey.”
Favorite Movies: “Pulp Fiction, Orange County, Anchorman.”
Musical Tastes: “Anything from way before my time – The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin.”
Favorite TV Shows: “Seinfeld, Scrubs, Curb You Enthusiasm.”
Favorite Meal: “Sushi.”
Favorite Breakfast Cereal: “Special K.”
Favorite Pre-Race Meal: “Plain non-fat yogurt with Kashi Go Lean.”
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: “Half-Baked.”
Childhood Dream: “I used to want to be a professional hockey player.”
First Car: “1992 Toyota Camry.”
First Job: “Working for my Dad, making endless phone calls to people who didn’t usually get what I was talking about.”
Favorite Vacation Spot: “Snowbird, Utah.”
Pre-Race Feeling: “Nervous but excited. I hate sitting around before a race because I just want it to start.”
Early Racing Memory: “Going to the Harlem Crit when I was 16 and meeting my new DS [Directeur Sportif], Craig Cook, before the start and receiving my first-ever team kit.”
Funny Racing Memory: “After the last stage of the 2007 Green Mountain Stage Race, my teammates and I found the keys to the car parked next to us under one of the tires. We unlocked the car, moved the keys to under a different wheel, and left. I just wish we could have stayed to see the look on that guy’s face while he looked for his keys and tried to remember whether or not he had actually locked his car.”
Greatest Racing Moment: “Winning the Blueberry Bicicletta Road Race this summer with an attack in the final mile and holding off the field with enough room to spare to throw my arms up in celebration at the line.”
Most Painful Moment In Life: “In sixth grade I was fixing my BMX bike at my friend’s house and got my finger caught between the moving chain and front chainring. That hurt, but what are worse were the four Novocaine shots the doctor in the ER injected into the webbing around my finger! I screamed so loud that my younger sister in the other room started to cry.”
Worst Injury from Racing: “A crash at Floyd Bennet Field, resulting in a shredded arm and knee and some stitches and patchwork and a shard of glass or two in my thigh. All in all, a pretty easy one, and I was riding the next day. No real war stories from me yet.”
Closest Racing Friends: “My teammates on the CRCA Junior Development/Orbea team.”
Funniest Racer: “Lewis Almonte.”
Favorite Race: “Bear Mountain.”
Embarrassing Racing Memory: “I got my mom up at 4:30 in the morning to go to a race in Central Park, and we get there to find that the race was the day before.”
Toughest Competitors: “Hot Tubes [top Junior squad].”
Favorite Athletes to Watch: “Jose Reyes, David Wright, Martin Brodeur, Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Frank Schleck.”
Qualities You Most Admire in People: “People who are willing to work, sacrifice, and get themselves a little dirty in order to get what they want. You should never expect anything to just be handed to you.”
What You Love Most About Riding Your Bicycle: “I can just completely lose myself in a ride. Sometimes, a half an hour will go by and I’ll be so zoned in that when I finally come to I’ll have no recollection of how I got where I am. It’s a little unsettling at first, but I love the fact that, for that span of time, I can totally clear my mind of everything, good or bad. For that little blip of existence, nothing at all has to matter to me.”
